Watch out for wearable computing hype at CES

Commentary: For now, the biggest part of market is fitness tracking

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — As the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas gets going in full force this week, both gadget lovers and tech investors will be bombarded by an avalanche of hype and predictions about thousands of new tech products.

With the PC industry stagnant or dying, depending on your view, and the smartphone in need of some invention beyond ever-growing screen size, the wearable computing arena is already one of the biggest buzzwords and attention-getters at this year’s giant technology showcase in Las Vegas.

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Predictions and announcements will abound. As reporters and analysts hit the desert — some with fear and loathing of the giant convention with the equivalent of about 28-football fields of exhibitor space — they are awash in prognostications. Already on Monday, before the show floor opened, startup Pebble launched a new sleeker $249 smartwatch that synchs with your phone. Called Pebble Steel and aimed at the fashion conscious, it’s first in an array of expected similar devices Before the show even started, estimates were that wearables would take up 40% of the show floor space.

Last year, market research firm Gartner Inc. said wearables would become a $10 billion market by 2016. But everyone needs to take a deep breath and look at some of the early indications.

On Monday night, Intel Corp.
INTC, -0.60%
CEO Brian Krzanich officially kicked off CES, talking about the chip maker’s big focus on wearable devices and how its small, low-power consuming chips can be used in smaller devices, including a new technology it calls Edison. Krzanich also unveiled a series of collaborations and initiatives aimed at making wearable devices more fashionable and to remove the dork stigma — a major issue so far with wearables.

“Wearables are not everywhere today because they aren’t solving real problems and they aren’t yet integrated with our lifestyles,” Krzanich said.

In addition to the lack of problem-solving ability, the dork factor and the size of some wearables is a huge drawback for some consumers, especially women. The socially awkward aspect is currently most obvious in one of the highest-profile devices, Google Glass, which is technically still in beta, or testing phase. Google Inc.’s
GOOG, -0.73%
Glass, is a geeky-looking eyeglass that you wear and bring the Internet right up to your face. Google Glass recently received some extremely mixed comments, with some of them coming from tech fanboy and video blogger Robert Scoble.

In a post on Google + on New Year’s Eve, Scoble lamented the small number of Google employees he’s spotted wearing Google Glass. Scoble has been one of the device’s biggest fans who even took a shower wearing them and shared a photo to prove it worked in water.

Scoble wrote that he believes Google Glass is still too hard to buy, too expensive, lacking many apps and carrying too many expectations. Indeed, one has to be approved by Google to be a Glass Explorer, in addition to coughing up $1,500 for the privilege.

At Wired, Mat Honan just wrote about his year as a “glasshole” the popular term coined last year to describe the people wearing Google Glass who can shoot photos and video and stream it on the Internet, all with a few swipes and vocal commands. The Wired piece starts with an anecdote about how Honan could not convince his wife to let him wear Google Glass while she gave birth. The experience, he wrote, made him “a little wary of wearables because I’m never sure where they’re welcome.”

Reuters

One problem, as the Wired piece and this columnist have noted, is that most of these big clunky wearable devices are not socially acceptable, especially, if like Google Glass, people are afraid to talk to you if they think they are being recorded and streamed, live, over the Internet.

Or as in the case of some smartwatches launched so far, the devices are oversized and unappealing to fashionistas or anyone with a sense of style. The Galaxy Gear launched by Samsung last year has suffered tepid to poor reviews and reports of a 30% return rate at Best Buy stores. The new Pebble Steel is trying to address aesthetics, but it still does not look like a watch I would wear every day.

Intel seems to have the right idea with its collaborations, which includes the edgy Barneys New York store and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Intel is also spearheading a “Make it Wearable Challenge” to accelerate creativity and innovation in wearable devices and ubiquitous computing, and hopes to foster invention in areas such as meaningful usages, aesthetics, battery life, security and privacy.

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So this style change is going to come in baby steps. Right now, the fitness and health category seems to have the most momentum, where gadgetry can check progress in workouts, measure distances and feats performed, and monitor vital signs. At CES, reporters at Mashable are going to clock their mileage in Las Vegas using the activity-logging wrist band developed by Nike
NKE, -0.56%
called the FuelBand, a device also used by Apple Inc.
AAPL, -1.54%
CEO Tim Cook.

Will it take an iWatch or some other yet unheard of device from Apple for wearables to go mainstream, as they did with other areas of computing? Without Steve Jobs at the helm it’s hard to say, but you can bet that even though Apple is not at CES, its executives are keeping an eye on the show and hoping to eventually upend many announcements. Perhaps Intel and its new CEO will make a big impact on the arena.

Until Apple or another company develops a must-have wearable, it’s probably safe to say that cars will display more computing devices than humans, for now.

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